Ido Aharoni
Ido Aharoni
Ambassador, professor, veteran of Israel’s Foreign Service
Ido Aharoni serves as a Globally Distinguished Professor for International Relations at New York University’s Faculty of Arts and Science. He is a co-founder of Emerson Rigby Ltd., a member of the International Advisory Council of APCO Worldwide, a Global Ambassador for Maccabi World Union and the Chairman of the Charney Forum on New Diplomacy.
Aharoni has been Israel’s longest serving Consul-General in New York and the tri-state area to date. He held that position with the rank of Ambassador for six years, overseeing the operations of Israel’s largest diplomatic mission worldwide.
Ido Aharoni spoke at The Common Good in 2015; The Information Revolution: Challenges and Opportunities for Israel - June 24, 2015.
Twitter: @IdoAharoni
Soledad O’Brien
Soledad O’Brien
Broadcast journalist
Soledad O’Brien is an award winning journalist, executive producer, and philanthropist. She is the CEO of Starfish Media Group, which is a multi-platform media production company dedicated to telling empowering and authentic stories on range of social issues. O’Brien continues to be a television anchor and correspondent, and the Starfish Media Group lists CNN, HBO, Real Sports and America Tonight, among a growing list of networks she is working with.
O’Brien has received numerous awards, including an Emmy, the NAACP’s President's Award, the George Foster Peabody Award, an Alfred I. du Pont Award, and the Gracie Allen Award. In 2008, she was the first recipient of the Soledad O’Brien Freedom’s Voice Award from the Morehouse School of Medicine, and was the first recipient of The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Goodermote Humanitarian Award. O’Brien received the 2009 Medallion of Excellence for Leadership and Community Service Award from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. In 2010, she was named Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists.
In 2011 O’Brien and her husband Brad Raymond created the PowHERful Foundation, which helps get young women get to and through college. This year, their conference series will visit 8 cities across the country.
She spoke at The Common Good Forum & The American Spirit Awards 2014 on June 2nd, 2014.
Twitter: @soledadobrien
Senator John Walsh
Senator John Walsh
American Politician
John Walsh enlisted in the National Guard as a private, working hard and rising through the ranks to become adjutant general, leading the Montana National Guard.
As a battalion commander, John led more than 700 men and women overseas to Iraq in the largest deployment of Montana National Guard soldiers and airmen since WWII. During his time as adjutant general, John championed the Yellow Ribbon program, an initiative that provides valuable resources to National Guard members and their families at all stages of their deployment and ensures Guard members get their well-earned services and benefits when they return home.
After 33 years of distinguished service, John retired from the National Guard and was elected by the people of Montana to the office of Lieutenant Governor, serving with Governor Steve Bullock. As Montana’s 30th Lieutenant Governor, John Walsh fought to balance the budget, enact tax cuts for small businesses, invest in Montana’s schools, and toughen laws against child abuse.
Walsh served as junior Senator for Montana from 2014 to 2015. He is running for the Senate in the 2020 elections.
Senator Walsh was hosted by The Common Good in 2014: Meet & Greet: Senator John Walsh - May 9, 2014.
Twitter: @JohnWalsh
Todd S. Purdum
Todd S. Purdum
Editor, political correspondent
Todd S. Purdum is a senior writer at Politico, a staff writer at The Atlantic and a national editor and political correspondent at Vanity Fair. He was previously with The New York Times, where he worked for 23 years as a political writer, also serving as diplomatic correspondent and Los Angeles bureau chief.
He is the author of the books Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution, An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and A Time of Our Choosing: America's War in Iraq.
Purdum spoke at The Common Good in 2014: The Civil Rights Act with Todd Purdum - April 2, 2014.
Jonathan Capehart
Jonathan Capehart
Journalist, television personality
Jonathan Capehart is a member of The Washington Post editorial board and writes about politics and social issues for the PostPartisan blog. He is also an MSNBC contributor, appearing regularly on Hardball and other dayside programs. Prior to joining The Washington Post in 2007, Capehart was the deputy editor of New York Daily News’s editorial page from 2002 to 2005. He worked as a policy adviser to Michael Bloomberg in his successful campaign for mayor of New York City, and was a national affairs columnist for Bloomberg News from 2000 to 2001. He was also a member of The Daily News editorial board from 1993 to 2000. Capehart and The Daily News editorial board won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for their series on the Apollo Theater in Harlem.
A Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Capehart was a researcher for NBC's The Today Show. Subsequently, he worked for the New York Daily News (NYDN), serving as a member of its editorial board from 1993 to 2000. At the time of his hiring, Capehart was the youngest ever member of that newspaper's editorial board. In 2000, he left the NYDN to work at Bloomberg News. Afterward, he advised and wrote speeches for Michael Bloomberg, during Bloomberg's 2001 run for the mayoralty of New York City.
He joined the staff of The Washington Post as a journalist and member of the editorial board in 2007. He continues in that capacity and is a contributing commentator for MSNBC. He also hosts the Cape Up podcast, in which he talks to newsmakers about race, religion, age, gender, and cultural identity in politics.
Capeheart presented speakers at The American Spirit Awards - November 13, 2013 and The Common Good Forum & The American Spirit Awards - June 2, 2014, and spoke at the event Election Insurrection: The Mid-Term Elections 2010.
Jonathan Capehart returned to participate in the 2020 Post-Election Roundup with Charlie Cook, Al Franken and Rick Wilson. After approximately two years, $14 billion and countless hours of attention, the 2020 campaign has finally come to a close. Al Franken was a part of the historic panel to discuss Joe Biden winning the presidency and President Trump is still contesting the results.
Twitter: @CapehartJ
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David Gergen
David Gergen
Senior political analyst for CNN
David Gergen is a senior political analyst for CNN and has served as an adviser to four U.S. presidents. He graduated with honors from both Yale College (1963) and Harvard Law School (1967), and served as an officer in the U.S. Navy for nearly three and a half years. He is a public service professor of public leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School and the director of its Center for Public Leadership. In 2000, he published the best-selling book, Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership, Nixon to Clinton.
Gergen joined the Harvard faculty in 1999. He is active as a speaker and sits on many boards, including Teach for America, the Aspen Institute, and Duke University, where he taught from 1995-1999. He is a member of the Washington D.C. Bar and the Council on Foreign Relations, and holds 19 honorary degrees.
Gergen was hosted by The Common Good in 2018, "On the Fault Lines: Decision 2018" Midterm Elections Power Panel, alongside Gerald Seib, Governor Haley Barbour, Nate Silver, and Ann Lewis, moderated by Gloria Borger. He also received the American Spirit Award for Distinguished Public Service at The American Spirit Awards 2013.
Twitter: @David_Gergen
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Nicole Hockley
Nicole Hockley
Sandy Hook Promise Co-Founder, Activist
Nicole Hockley is the Co-founder and Managing Director of Sandy Hook Promise. Her six-year-old son Dylan Hockley, was was one of 20 children killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 14, 2012. After his death, she dedicated herself to fighting for children to be safe in their own schools, and so others could be spared the pain of losing loved ones to gun violence.
Hockley co-founded Sandy Hook Promise, a non-profit who’s mission is to “honor all victims of gun violence by turning our tragedy into a moment of transformation by providing programs and practices that protect children from gun violence. By uniting people of all beliefs and backgrounds who value the protection of children to take meaningful actions in their homes and communities, we will prevent gun violence and stop the tragic loss of life.” Hockley is their managing director and continues to fight to prevent gun violence before it occurs, with Sandy Hook Promise releasing powerful PSA’s including their recent “Back-To-School Essentials” video.
She received the American Spirit Award for Citizen Activism at The Common Good American Spirit Awards, 2013.
Twitter: @NicoleHockley
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Lester Brown
Lester Brown
International analyst, author
Lester Brown started his career as a farmer, growing tomatoes in southern New Jersey with his younger brother during high school and college. Shortly after earning a degree in agricultural science from Rutgers University in 1955, he spent six months living in rural India where he became intimately familiar with the food/population issue. In 1959, Brown joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service as an international analyst. In 1964, he became an adviser to Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman on foreign agricultural policy. In 1966, the Secretary appointed him Administrator of the department’s International Agricultural Development Service. In early 1969, he left government to help establish the Overseas Development Council.
In 1974, with the support of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Lester Brown founded the Worldwatch Institute, the first research institute devoted to the analysis of global environmental issues. In May 2001, he founded the Earth Policy Institute to provide a vision and a road map for achieving an environmentally sustainable economy.
Brown has authored or co-authored over 50 books. One of the world’s most widely published authors, his books have appeared in 40 languages.
The Common Good hosted Mr. Brown in October of 2013: Climate change and the food crisis with environmentalist Lester Brown.
Ambassador Frank Wisner
Frank Wisner
Retired American diplomat
Ambassador Frank Wisner’s diplomatic career spans four decades and eight American presidents. He served as ambassador to Zambia, Egypt, the Philippines, and India during his years in the State Department.
After graduating from Princeton University in 1961, Frank Wisner joined the State Department as a Foreign Service officer. Ambassador Wisner worked as a senior diplomat in Tunisia and Bangladesh before returning to Washington as Director of Plans and Management in the Bureau of Public Affairs. He then joined the President’s Interagency Task Force on Indochina, the entity responsible for evacuating and settling nearly one million refugees and served as its Deputy Director. Later, as Director of the Office of Southern African Affairs, Frank Wisner worked closely with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to launch negotiations with Zimbabwe and Namibia. Ambassador Wisner played a crucial role in negotiating Kosovo’s independence as the nation’s special representative to the Kosovo Status Talks in 2005. He is currently a foreign affairs adviser for Patton Boggs.
Ambassador Wisner spoke at The Common Good in 2013: Foreign Affairs Series: Egypt in Crisis with Ambassador Frank Wisner.
David Rohde
David Rohde
Journalist, author
David Rohde is the online news director for The New Yorker. He is a global-affairs analyst for CNN and a former reporter for Reuters, The New York Times, and the Christian Science Monitor. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting in 1996 for stories that helped expose the Srebrenica massacre during the war in Bosnia. In 2009, he shared a Pulitzer Prize with a team of Times reporters for coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
His other books include Beyond War: Reimagining America’s Role and Ambitions in a New Middle East, A Rope and a Prayer: The Story of a Kidnapping (co-authored with his wife, Kristen Mulvihill), and Endgame: The Betrayal and Fall of Srebrenica, Europe’s Worst Massacre Since World War II.
Rohde spoke at The Common Good in 2013: Foreign Affairs Series: Rethinking US Approaches to the Middle East with David Rohde.
Twitter: @RohdeD
Joseph Lhota
Joseph Lhota
American public servant, former politician
Joe Lhota is an American politician and businessman, former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and former deputy mayor of New York City. He was the Republican nominee in his unsuccessful bid for the 2013 election for Mayor of New York City. As of 2015, he is senior vice president, vice dean, and chief of staff at NYU Langone Medical Center. In 2017, he returned to the chairmanship of the MTA and later resigned from the position in 2018.
Lhota spoke at The Common Good in 2013: NYC Mayoral Candidate Series: Joe Lhota - August 13, 2013.
Twitter: @JoeLhota
Eric Schneiderman
Eric Schneiderman
Lawyer
Eric T. Schneiderman was elected the 65th Attorney General of New York State on November 2, 2010. He served until his resignation in 2018 amid accusations of sexual misconduct.
Schneiderman previously spent 15 years in private practice as an attorney, and later as a partner, at the firm of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart. He was also a public interest lawyer for many years, and his clients included taxpayers in historic lawsuits against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, tenants trying to evict drug dealers from their buildings, and women seeking access to health clinics. Before becoming an Attorney General, he served ten years as a democrat in the New York State Senate.
He was hosted by The Common Good in 2013: Leadership Series: New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman - July 23, 2013.
Twitter: @EricSchneiderNY
John Catsimatidis
John Catsimatidis
Owner and CEO of the Red Apple Group
John Catsimatidis was born on the Greek Island of Nisyros in 1948. Six months later his parents emigrated to New York City. Catsimatidis enrolled in New York University to study electrical engineering, going to school during the day and working in a small grocery store on nights and weekends to help his parents pay the bills. He eventually dropped out of school to work full time. By his 25th birthday he already had 10 Red Apple Supermarkets. Four decades later, the Red Apple Group ranked 156th by Forbes in 2015 in“America’s largest private companies” and has evolved into a diversified corporation that has holdings in the energy, aviation, retail and real estate sectors and over 8,000 employees.
He and his wife are actively involved in political contributions and campaigns on both sides of the aisle.
Catsimatidis was hosted by The Common Good in 2013: NYC Candidate Series: John Catsimatidis - July 16, 2013.
Twitter: @JCats2013
Anthony Weiner
Anthony Weiner
American politician and Former U.S. Representative
Anthony David Weiner is an American politician and former U.S. Representative who served New York’s 9th congressional district from January 1999 until June 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he won seven terms, never receiving less than 59% of the vote. Weiner resigned from Congress in June 2011, due to a sexting scandal.
He was a member of the New York City Council from 1992 to 1998, and a congressional aide to then–U.S. Representative Chuck Schumer from 1985 to 1991. A New York City native, he attended public schools and graduated from the SUNY Plattsburgh in 1985 with a B.A. in political science. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Mayor of New York City in the 2005 and 2013 New York City mayoral elections.
Weiner was incarcerated in 2017 for sending explicit photos to a minor. He was released from prison in February, 2019. After two months in a halfway house, Weiner was released as a registered sex offender.
Weiner spoke at The Common Good in 2013: NYC Mayoral Candidate Series: Anthony Weiner on health care policy.
James Goodale
James Goodale
Leading First Amendment lawyer with Debevoise & Plimpton
James C. Goodale is a leading First Amendment lawyer with Debevoise & Plimpton. He has represented The New York Times in every one of its cases to go to the Supreme Court. These cases include the Pentagon Papers case (The New York Times Co. v. The U.S.), The New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (libel), and The New York Times Co. v. Tasini (digital rights).
Goodale spoke at The Common Good alongside Brian Knappenberger at a Special Screening and Conversation on “Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press” in 2017 and at the Democracy Series: ‘Fighting for the Press’ with James Goodale event in 2013.
Ribal al-Assad
Ribal al-Assad
Syrian businessman, political activist
Ribal al-Assad is the founder and director of the Organization for Democracy and Freedom in Syria, which promotes democracy, freedom and human rights in Syria and the Middle East. He is also the Chairman and Founder of the Iman Foundation, a non-partisan and not for profit organization which aims to promote dialogue to strengthen international understanding and co-existence through the exchange of ideas, people, culture and religion. He was born in Syria and has lived in the West since being exiled from his country as a child.
Ribal al-Assad spoke at The Common Good in 2013: Foreign Affairs Series: Syria update with Ribal al-Assad - June 25, 2013.
Twitter: @RibalAlAssad
Brenda Fulton
Brenda s. Fulton
Board member of OutServe-SLDN, Co-founder of Knights Out
Brenda S. “Sue” Fulton is a Board member of OutServe-SLDN, the national organization supporting LGBT members of the Armed Forces. A Florida native, Fulton graduated West Point in 1980, part of the first class to include women, and was commissioned in the Army. She served as a platoon leader, staff officer, and company commander in Germany, and was honorably discharged as a Captain.
In 2009, she co-founded Knights Out, an organization of LGBT West Point graduates and allies, and later helped Josh Seefried and Ty Walrod launch OutServe, the association of actively-serving LGBT military personnel. She served both organizations as Communications Director and later became Executive Director of Knights Out. A key player in the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Fulton was appointed by President Obama to the U.S. Military Academy Board of Visitors in 2011 – the first openly gay member of the Board.
Governor Murphy appointed Chief Fulton as one of three State government appointees to the State Ethics Commission, which administers and enforces State conflicts of interest law in July of 2018.
Fulton spoke as part of the panel Women in the Military: US Senator Jeanne Shaheen and others – March 15, 2013 alongside Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Anu Bhagwati, and Molly O’Toole, moderated by MSNBC contributor Krystal Ball at The Common Good.
Twitter: @suefulton
Anuradha Bhagwati
Anuradha Bhagwati
Service Women’s Action Network’s First Executive Director
Anuradha Bhagwati is the Service Women’s Action Network’s (SWAN) first Executive Director. A former Captain and Company Commander, Anu served as a Marine officer from 1999-2004. Under Anu’s leadership, SWAN has spearheaded legislative reform and litigation to end military rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and domestic violence, and to eliminate all barriers to equal opportunity for service women.
Anu has testified before Congress, advised the White House and the United Nations, and has spoken to countless audiences on challenges faced by military women, including the Combat Exclusion policy, Military Sexual Trauma, the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, and the VA health care and benefits system. A regular contributor to the media, Anu has been featured on Piers Morgan Tonight, the CNN Situation Room, MSNBC, NBC Nightly News, NPR, the BBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Newsweek. Anu is the author of “UNBECOMING: A Memoir of Disobedience”, published in March 2019.
Bhagwati spoke as part of the panel Women in the Military: US Senator Jeanne Shaheen and others – March 15, 2013 alongside Molly O’Toole, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, and Brenda S. Fulton, moderated by MSNBC contributor Krystal Ball at The Common Good.
Twitter: @AnuBhagwati
Senator Jeanne Shaheen
Jeanne Shaheen
American Politician
The first woman in history to be elected a Governor and a United States Senator, Jeanne Shaheen has been involved in all levels of New Hampshire life. She became the first woman elected Governor of New Hampshire, serving three terms from 1997-2003. In 2008 Shaheen became the first woman elected to the United States Senate from New Hampshire. She chairs the Committee on Foreign Relations’ Subcommittee on European Affairs, and the Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Water and Power. Shaheen is also a member of the Armed Services Committee and the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
Shaheen spoke as part of the panel Women in the Military: US Senator Jeanne Shaheen and others – March 15, 2013 alongside Molly O’Toole, Anu Bhagwati, and Brenda S. Fulton, moderated by MSNBC contributor Krystal Ball at The Common Good.
Twitter: @SenatorShaheen
Mark Kelly
Mark Kelly
American astronaut, engineer, and U.S. Navy Captain
Mark Kelly, husband of former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, is a retired astronaut and US Navy Captain with 6,000 flight hours in more than 50 different aircraft, 375 aircraft carrier landings, 39 combat missions and more than 50 days in space.
As a Naval Aviator, Kelly flew combat missions during the Gulf War. He received initial training on the A-6E Intruder attack aircraft. He was then assigned to Attack Squadron 115 (VA-115) in Atsugi, Japan, and made two deployments to the Persian Gulf on the aircraft carrier USS Midway, flying 39 combat missions in Operation Desert Storm. Kelly has won many awards, including the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit and Distinguished Flying Cross. He was selected as an astronaut in 1996 and flew his first of four missions in 2001 aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour, the same space shuttle that he commanded on its final flight in May 2011. He is one of only two individuals who has visited the International Space Station on four different occasions.
Kelly was thrust into the national spotlight in January 2011 after his wife, U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was shot in an assassination attempt in Arizona.
He spoke at The Common Good in 2013: Astronaut Mark Kelly “Reducing Gun Violence Responsibly”.
Twitter: @ShuttleCDRKelly